Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1 - Under the Orders and at the Expense of Her Majesty's Government

James Richardson

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• Publié par: rogum
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 53
• Langue: English

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Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1, by James Richardson
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Title: Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1
Under the Orders and at the Expense of Her Majesty's Government
Author: James Richardson
Release Date: November 27, 2005 [EBook #17164]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Some inconsistencies in the dates have been corrected in chapters
XV and XVI: September 29th changed to August 29th, October 1st to
September 1st, and October 4th to September 4th.
NARRATIVE OF A MISSION TO
CENTRAL AFRICA
PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1850-51,
UNDER THE ORDERS AND AT THE EXPENSE OF HER
MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT.
BY THE LATE
JAMES RICHARDSON,
AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA."
IN TWO VOLUMES.VOL. I.
LONDON:
CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICADILLY.
MDCCCLIII.
LONDON:
Printed by G. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq.
[v]PREFACE.
THE TASK OF THE EDITOR OF THESE VOLUMES HAS BEEN PRINCIPALLY ONE OF
ARRANGEMENT AND COMPRESSION. THE LATE LAMENTED MR. JAMES RICHARDSON LEFT
BEHIND HIM A COPIOUS JOURNAL, COMPRISED IN EIGHT SMALL BUT CLOSELY-WRITTEN
VOLUMES, BESIDES A VAST HEAP OF DESPATCHES AND SCATTERED MEMORANDA; AND, AT
FIRST SIGHT, IT SEEMED TO ME THAT IT WOULD BE NECESSARY TO MELT THE WHOLE DOWN
INTO A NARRATIVE IN THE THIRD PERSON. ON ATTENTIVELY STUDYING THE MATERIALS BEFORE
ME, HOWEVER, I PERCEIVED THAT MR. RICHARDSON HAD WRITTEN IN MOST PLACES WITH A
VIEW TO PUBLICATION; AND THAT, HAD HE LIVED, HE WOULD SOON HAVE BROUGHT WHAT,
ON A CURSORY EXAMINATION, APPEARED A MERE CHAOTIC MASS, INTO A SHAPE THAT
WOULD HAVE ACCORDED WITH HIS OWN IDEA OF A BOOK OF TRAVELS. SUCH BEING THE
[vi]CASE, I THOUGHT IT BEST—IN ORDER TO LEAVE THE STAMP OF AUTHENTICITY ON THIS
SINGULAR RECORD OF ENTERPRISE—TO DO LITTLE MORE THAN THE AUTHOR WOULD HIMSELF
HAVE DONE. IN THE FORM OF A DIARY, THEREFORE—WRITTEN SOMETIMES WITH ORIENTAL
naïveté—THE READER WILL HERE FIND WHAT MAY BE CALLED THE DOMESTIC HISTORY OF
ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL EXPEDITIONS UNDERTAKEN FOR THE EXPLORATION OF
CENTRAL AFRICA. I BELIEVE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE TO GET UP A WORK OF MORE
TEMPORARY INTEREST FROM THE SAME MATERIALS; BUT THIS COULD ONLY HAVE BEEN DONE
BY SACRIFICING TRUTHFULNESS OF DETAIL. IN THE PRESENT FORM, MR. RICHARDSON'S JOURNAL
WILL ALWAYS REMAIN AS AN AUTHORITY ON THE GEOGRAPHY AND PRESENT CONDITION OF A
large portion of the Saharan desert, hitherto unvisited, at any rate undescribed.
AS WILL BE SEEN, THE MISSION WAS ACCOMPANIED BY TWO GERMAN GENTLEMEN, DRS.
BARTH AND OVERWEG—THE FORMER, OF WHOM I HAD THE PLEASURE OF MEETING IN
EGYPT, AFTER HIS ENTERPRISING RIDE ALONG THE COAST OF LIBYA. THEY ARE STILL IN
CENTRAL AFRICA, PUSHING THEIR EXCURSIONS ON ALL SIDES, FROM BORNOU INTO UNKNOWN
TRACTS; AND THE ACCOUNTS THEY MAY PUBLISH ON THEIR RETURN WILL BE ANXIOUSLY
LOOKED FOR. THE GREAT TRAVERSE OF THE SAHARAN DESERT, HOWEVER, WITH ALL ITS
[vii]vicissitudes AND DANGERS, THE PHYSICAL ASPECT OF THAT WONDERFUL REGION, AND THE
manners of the various tribes that inhabit it, will, in the present volume, be found
TO BE FULLY DESCRIBED—NOT, IT IS TRUE, WITH MUCH ATTEMPT AT LITERARY ORNAMENT, BUT
IN THE VIVID THOUGH SIMPLE LANGUAGE IN WHICH A MAN SETS DOWN IMPRESSIONS
WHICH HE HAS JUST RECEIVED. I HAVE ENDEAVOURED TO REMOVE ALL THE FAULTS WHICH
MAY BE SUPPOSED TO HAVE ARISEN FROM HASTE OR CARELESSNESS, AND HAVE
NECESSARILY RE-WRITTEN SEVERAL PASSAGES, AND PASSED A CORRECTING PEN OVER THE
WHOLE MANUSCRIPT. BUT I THINK I MAY SAY WITH CONFIDENCE, THAT THERE IS NO
OBSERVATION OR STATEMENT IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES WHICH CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED BY A
reference to the original journals and scattered memoranda.
TO ME THIS SIMPLE RECORD OF DAILY OCCURRENCES SEEMS HIGHLY INTERESTING. IT
DIVIDES ITSELF, NATURALLY, INTO A SUCCESSION OF PARTS OF UNEQUAL IMPORTANCE. FIRST
COMES AN ACCOUNT OF THE JOURNEY TO MOURZUK, THE CAPITAL OF FEZZAN, CONTAINING
THE TRAVERSE OF THE FRIGHTFUL HAMADAH OR PLATEAU WHICH SEPARATES THAT PROVINCE
FROM THE REGENCY OF TRIPOLI. THEN WE HAVE A RESIDENCE AT MOURZUK ITSELF, MR.
[viii]RICHARDSON BEING OBLIGED TO WAIT THE ARRIVAL FROM GHÂT OF AN ESCORT OF TUARICK
CHIEFTAINS, WITH WHOM HE HAD PARTLY MADE ACQUAINTANCE DURING A FORMER TRIP IN
THE DESERT. THIS ESCORT APPEARED AFTER SOME DELAY; AND THE MISSION PROCEEDEDACROSS THE FEZZAN PLAINS TO THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF GHÂT, THROUGH A VERY WILD
and picturesque country. At this point began, if not the most arduous, at any rate
THE MOST DANGEROUS, AND AT THE SAME TIME THE MOST NOVEL, PART OF THE JOURNEY.
MR. RICHARDSON HAD UNDERTAKEN, ON HIS WAY TO SOUDAN PROPER (HIS FIRST
DESTINATION), TO PASS BY THE HITHERTO UNEXPLORED KINGDOM OF AHEER OR ASBEN,
SITUATED TOWARDS THE SOUTHERN LIMITS OF THE SAHARA. THE MARCH OF THE MISSION
ACROSS THE DESERTS THAT LIE BETWEEN GHÂT AND THAT TERRITORY WAS RENDERED
EXCITING BY CONTINUAL REPORTS OF DANGER FROM PURSUING FREEBOOTERS OF THE HAGHAR
AND AZGHER TRIBES; BUT THE ENEMY WERE OUTSTRIPPED, AND NO ACTUAL ATTACK TOOK
PLACE UNTIL THE FIRST INHABITED DISTRICTS OF AHEER WERE REACHED. HERE SOME
LAWLESS TRIBES LEVIED BLACK-MAIL, ON THE CARAVAN, WHICH WAS THEN PERMITTED TO
PROCEED, THOUGH IN DOUBT AND ALARM, UNTIL IT ARRIVED UNDER THE LONG-EXPECTED
PROTECTION OF SHEIKH EN-NOOR, ONE OF THE GREAT CHIEFS OF THE KAILOUEE TRIBES, AT
[ix]his town, or rather encampment, of Tintalous. Mr. Richardson's residence at this
PLACE WAS LONG AND TEDIOUS. HE SUFFERED, BESIDES, FROM THE EXTORTIONATE
disposition of the Sheikh or Sultan, who, however, after considerable exactions,
BECAME HIS FRIEND. THIS SAHARAN CHARACTER IS BROUGHT OUT BY A SUCCESSION OF
AMUSING TOUCHES. BUT OUR TRAVELLER WAS IMPATIENT TO PROCEED, AND SEEMS TO
HAVE HAILED WITH DELIGHT THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT THE GREAT SALT-CARAVAN, WHICH
ANNUALLY TRANSPORTS THE NECESSARY CONDIMENT FROM BILMA viâ AHEER TO THE SOUTH,
was about to start, and that the Sheikh and the Christians were to accompany it.
SOME FURTHER DISAPPOINTMENTS OCCURRED, BUT AT LENGTH THE MISSION PROCEEDED TO
DAMERGHOU, WHENCE DRS. BARTH AND OVERWEG WENT, ONE TO MARADEE AND THE
OTHER TO KANOU, WHILST MR. RICHARDSON PROCEEDED ALONE TO ZINDER, SITUATED IN
THE PROVINCE OF DAMAGRAM. HERE HE WAS WELL RECEIVED BY THE SARKEE, OR
GOVERNOR, AND HE DILATES WITH WELL-FOUNDED EXULTATION ON HIS ESCAPE FROM THE
INSOLENT AND RAPACIOUS TUARICKS. SAD SIGHTS, HOWEVER, CONNECTED WITH THE
SLAVE-TRADE, CHECKED HIS DELIGHT. DURING HIS STAY THE SARKEE WENT OUT IN PERSON
[x]TO HUNT DOWN THE SUBJECTS OF HIS OWN SOVEREIGN, THAT HE MIGHT PAY HIS DEBTS BY
SELLING THEM INTO CAPTIVITY. AFTER ANOTHER CONSIDERABLE DELAY MR. RICHARDSON
WAS ENABLED TO START ONCE MORE, AND BEING OBLIGED TO CHANGE HIS ORIGINAL PLAN
PROCEEDED TO KUKA, THE CAPITAL OF BORNOU, BY WAY OF MINYO. SHORTLY AFTER LEAVING
GURAI, THE CHIEF TOWN OF THAT PROVINCE, THE UNFORTUNATE TRAVELLER FOUND HIS
STRENGTH TO BE GRADUALLY GIVING WAY. HE HAD ALREADY PREVIOUSLY COMPLAINED OF
THE HEAT AND FATIGUE, BUT DID NOT SEEM TO HAVE FELT ANY GREAT ALARM. NOW,
HOWEVER, THE CLIMATE SEEMS TO HAVE TOLD UPON HIM WITH SUDDEN AND FATAL
VIOLENCE. HIS LAST MOMENTS ARE DESCRIBED IN A LETTER FROM HIS FELLOW-TRAVELLER, DR.
BARTH, WHO HASTENED TO THE SPOT WITH LAUDABLE ENERGY AS SOON AS HE HEARD OF
THE MELANCHOLY CATASTROPHE THAT HAD TAKEN PLACE. MR. RICHARDSON DIED AT
UNGURUTUA, ABOUT SIX DAYS' JOURNEY FROM KUKA, THE CAPITAL OF BORNOU, ON THE 4TH
of March, 1851, eleven months after his departure from Tripoli.
I HAVE OBSERVED THAT THE MISSION, THE FIRST TRANSACTIONS OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED IN
THESE VOLUMES, IS ENTITLED TO BE CALLED SUCCESSFUL. ALTHOUGH THE ORIGINAL
[xi]PROMOTER AND DIRECTOR DIED JUST AS HE WAS ON THE POINT OF REACHING THE
TERMINATION OF HIS JOURNEY, HIS ENTERPRISING COMPANIONS, DRS. BARTH AND
OVERWEG, SEEM TO HAVE CARRIED ON AND DEVELOPED ADMIRABLY THE PLAN AT FIRST
LAID DOWN. IF THEY BE SPARED TO RETURN TO EUROPE THEY WILL BRING HOME, NO DOUBT,
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SO VALUABLE THAT ALL MR. RICHARDSON'S PREDICTIONS WILL
BE FOUND TO BE AMPLY FULFILLED. AS IT IS, HOWEVER, THE OBJECT OF OUR PRACTICAL
FELLOW-COUNTRYMAN MAY BE SAID TO HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. HE DID NOT LAY SO
MUCH STRESS ON THE ACCURATE DETERMINATION OF LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE, OF THE
HEIGHTS OF MOUNTAINS AND THE COURSES OF VALLEYS, AS ON MATTERS THAT COME MORE
NEARLY HOME TO HUMAN SYMPATHIES. THE ABOLITION OF THE SYSTEM OF SLAV